Black Blood
by Z-Pikachu
Summary: Their life will never be the same. AUish. Coauthored with Dustchu
1. Chapter 1

**Black Blood**

…

Chapter 1

At Home

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.**

…

_"We're finally at the last city, Pallet Town, Sir."_

_"Yes, then our work here will be complete."_

_"Anything else you want, Sir?"_

_"Yes, be careful something about this town feels different than the rest. I don't want any screw ups."_

_"At once, Sir."_

…

**Pikachu's Point of View**

"Chu," I swore under my breath, rubbing my sore bottom. This was the fifth time in the past month I woke up like this: on the cold floor with an aching bottom. I was really considering a new place to sleep. Ash was sitting up still breathing hard from his nightmare.

He had been having nightmares for the last two months. I don't think the nightmares would be so bad if he could just remember what they were about. He told me he didn't even remember bits and pieces.

I had nightmares too, if you could call them that. I would wake up with a shortness of breath and no memory why that was, but it was nowhere near as bad as Ash's awakenings. He would literally jerk awake in a cold sweat panting for breath with a terrified look in his eyes. His jerking awake would usually end up with me on the floor, like now. I thought that if he wasn't panting so hard when he woke up that he would still be screaming right now.

I had asked Ash's other Pokémon if they had any nightmares recently, but oddly they all said they didn't. They all seemed so happy when they saw us back from Unova. They were a little disappointed to hear that Ash had lost the Unova League, but they quickly perked up although because their Ash was back home.

I looked at Ash who was staring out the window. I wondered what was going through his head right now.

…

**Ash's Point of View**

The last four months had been long, very long. Usually I would have already left by now for another region, but I hadn't. Oak kept insisting I go to the Kalos region, but I turned him down every time. Something felt wrong or off about everything, and I wanted to figure out what seemed wrong before I left to go to some other region.

I had explained my reasoning to the others and even to my Pokémon, but they didn't sense anything different. They just thought I was being paranoid. Except Pikachu; he agreed with me that something definitely seemed wrong.

So the last few months we had fallen into a routine. My Mom would wake us up and we would go down stairs to devour the breakfast she made for us. Then me and Pikachu would hang out awhile usually watching TV, playing board games, talking, or just relaxing. After that we would eat lunch, again made by my mom. Then we head over to Oak's to train with my Pokémon for five or so hours. Finally we would head home before eating dinner and going to sleep.

Most of the time I could just ignore the whole weird feeling in the back of my head, the sense of offness, but it was hard, it was like bug bites the more I thought about it the itchier it was. If I thought about it too much it would be all I could think about. Then I would start having a really bad migraine.

I was jerked out of my thinking when Pikachu jumped off the floor and landed on my lap. I looked down at him and saw the concerned look on his face. "I'm ok Pikachu it was just another little nightmare," I tried to say without a quiver in my voice, but failed miserably.

"Pika Pikachu," he said. Just by the tone of his voice I could tell he was basically saying, "You're a terrible liar."

"Yeah… well… uhh… You're not any better of a liar then I am," I finally retorted trying to change the subject.

"Pi." Was all he said in return.

"Are you trying to say that you're a better liar than I am?" I asked starting to feel a smirk form on my face to which he nodded his head. "Well then, when we go to Oak's I'll bring a couple packs of cards and we'll play BS with whoever else wants to play. Then we will see who the best liar really is."

"Pika," He agreed with a small smirk on his face.

"Ok. Go down stairs and see if Mom's up yet and more importantly if she has made breakfast yet." I told him starting to get ready.

After showering and brushing my teeth I looked into the mirror. I saw a somewhat short ten-year-old boy with unruly hair wearing blue jeans, a purple shirt under a black vest, a yellow lightning bolt designed baseball hat, and finally purple fingerless gloves. Something in the back of my head found this for some reason terribly wrong.

…

**Ash's Point of View**

By the time I got down stairs I could see that my Mom was indeed up and making huge fluffy waffles. I loved my mom's cooking. It was one of the pluses about staying at home longer than I usually did. She just loved to cook all the time. I had told her time and time again that she should be a professional chef, but she just blushed and said that she wasn't that good of a cook. I eventually gave up trying to convince her because she didn't want to hear it.

I glanced into the dining room to see Pikachu on the table already halfway through his second apple. "Easy on the apples or I'll have to put you on a diet again," I teased. I had wondered what Professor Oak had been feeding my Pikachu before I met him. He had weighed twenty-one pounds when Oak gave him to me. That was eight pounds more than the average Pikachu weighed according to the Pokédex. Man was Pikachu mad at me when I told him he had to go on a diet.

"Pika pi pi chu," He threatened cheeks sparking angrily.

"I was just kidding," I insisted quickly stepping back into the kitchen before Pikachu could shock me.

I was then smacked in the face with the delicious cinnamony smell of extra cinnamon waffles. I didn't know why I hadn't smelled them earlier but I could surely smell them now.

I watched my mom stack a fourth golden, perfectly round, and heavenly waffle onto my plate. "Here you go, son," She said handing me the tower of waffles.

"Thanks, Mom."

"You're Welcome, and make sure you clean the syrup off the table if you spill any. Mr. Mime wasn't too happy last time he discovered drying syrup on the table. Oh and don't forget to wash your hands."

"Ok, Mom, I will," I said placing the plate onto the table next to Pikachu. I then went into the bathroom and proceeded to wash my hands. When I returned I looked around the table, but found the syrup to be missing. You couldn't have waffles without syrup! "Hey, Mom?"

"Yes, dear." She called from the kitchen.

"Have you seen the syrup?"

"It should be on the table."

I physically got up and walked around the whole table moving things to the side to see if I missed it, but I came up empty handed. "Where on Earth is the syrup?" I wondered aloud as I sat back down, disappointed about not finding it.

Pikachu snickered. I looked at him snickering with his hands trying, but failing, to hold back his laughter. "You hid the syrup somewhere didn't you?" This caused him to fall on his side full out laughing now. "Tell me where you put it, Pikachu."

"Pika pika," he finally said with his arms in an 'I don't know' gesture after standing back up.

"Do we have to do this the hard way?"

"Chu," He said defiantly crossing his arms and looking away.

"Fine, you asked for it," I said suddenly tickling him all over. He struggled as he tried to escape but I made sure not to let him go, I tickled him for five seconds before asking, "Do you give up?"

"Pi," He laughed out shaking his head, tears in his eyes and breathing hard as I continued the torment.

"You asked for it." I ticked him again but for ten seconds this time. "How about now?"

He kept laughing but managed to choke out "Pi," As he again shook his head, I then tickled him for twenty whole seconds and I was about to ask him if he gave up when my Mom walked into the room to see what all the commotion was.

"Ash," She yelled, "You're getting Pikachu's fur all over the clean table." Startled I let go of Pikachu. Pikachu then took that moment to quickly escape my grasp and run out of the dining room.

I looked down at the table to see all the yellow hair on it. "Heh heh… I'll clean it up Mom, but it was Pikachu's fault, he hid the syrup."

"Ok," she sighed grabbing another bottle of maple syrup from the cabinet.

I quickly cleaned off the table making sure no hairs got onto my waffles. I then threw all the hair in the trash and washed my hands again before sitting back down. I drowned my waffles in syrup and handed the bottle to my Mom. I watched her carefully pour a little syrup into each hole of her single waffle.

"Why do you always do that?" I asked taking a huge bite of my soggy waffles.

"Do what?"

"Carefully pour syrup into each individual hole of your waffle."

"I don't know. I always do."

I finished the rest of my waffles in silence. I tried to think of new ways to train my Pokémon, but I just kept coming up with things I already had tried. When I was finished with my waffles I put my plate in the sink.

I was on my way out of the dining room when my Mom said, "I almost forgot," I walked back over to her. "Professor Oak called earlier when you were asleep. He said he needed to see you before noon for something," She finished.

I looked at the clock it read 11:41. "Oh crap," I thought. I was going to have to run like the day I got Pikachu.

…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Pocketknife.

**Disclaimer: I Don't Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.**

…

**Ash's Point of View**

I had to get my bag and I needed to find where Pikachu had run off to. Whatever Oak wanted it was probably pretty important or it might have something to do with my Pokemon!

"Bye Mom I have to go. I don't want to be late." I said to her hurriedly on my way out of the kitchen.

"Wait, I wanted to give you something before you go!" she stated, stopping me in my tracks.

"What? Make it quick I need to get to Oak's," I pleaded to her, running in place.

"Well, when I was cleaning my room with Mimey I was cleaning the-" she stopped.

Because before she could finish I cut her off, "Get to the point already! I have to go Mom."

"Ok. Ok. Well to the point I found your Father's pocketknife," she tried saying as casually as possible.

I almost choked, I stopped running in place and stood still and asked. "You did?"

She nodded with a sad smile as she continued. "Yes I did, and I wanted you to have it," She paused before pulling a red folding knife out her pocket and slowly placing it on the table next to me, "I wanted you to have it because, it's your father's and I think it belongs to you more than it does to me. You've become more like him everyday"

I was utterly shocked, to say the least. I had no clue what to say. My Father's pocketknife was one of the few things of his we had left in the house."B-bu-but I'm only t-ten," I finally managed to stutter out. I couldn't be responsible for something like this, it was my Dad's for crying out loud!

"Yes, but you've travelled a lot and I think you're ready to handle something like this. A pocketknife is a very useful tool in the wild and could come in handy," Before I could interrupt her she continued, "Now I know you were going to say something along the lines of that you're not in the wild right now, but you always have some kind of adventure or another always around the corner waiting for you just like your Father used to," She sniffled at the last part, but seemed to keep it together. "Now take that pocketknife and get out of my house or you're going to be late," She finished sternly, gesturing at the pocketknife.

I reached over and slowly picked the pocketknife up as I ignored the tears rolling down my cheeks. I closely examined it and saw it had a faded red wood handle, and I turned it over and saw on one side the initials R.K. was carved into it. I slowly unfolded the knife taking in the sight of it. The shiny blade was over five inches long and looked razor sharp. I lightly touched the tip of the knife with my forefinger and winced when I found that it was still razor sharp after all these years. I saw a small crimson red blood drop appear on my finger so I clenched my bleeding hand into a fist so my Mom wouldn't be able to see it. I feared that if she saw it she would break into tears.

I folded the knife back into its original position being careful not to show my bleeding hand to my Mom. I then put the pocketknife into my pocket casually keeping my bleeding left hand in my pocket. "I should be going now," I said slowly wiping the tears off my face. She didn't say anything so I started my way to my room.

After a couple of moments she called, "Ash?"

I stopped and said over my shoulder, "Yes Mom?"

"Make your Father proud."

"I will," I said walking slowly towards my room. My memories cut me like the knife in my pocket did. I felt the whole event replay in my head.

…

I was four years old and I had just walked home from preschool like I usually did. I had walked in the door fully expecting a hug and a kiss from Mommy and Daddy, but that's not what happened. Instead when I walked into the house I was greeted by the sound of my Mommy's sobs. I ran into the room to find my Mommy sitting on the couch with tears running down her face. In her hand she held a cell phone in a death grip.

"What's wrong Mommy?" I had asked her. This only caused her to cry even harder when she realized I had entered the room. "And where's daddy?" I asked having noticed that he wasn't in the room comforting her.

She didn't respond at first trying to get her crying under control. Once she accomplished this she had told me in a very sad yet flat tone of voice, "Well Ash, Daddy's in a happy place now. We won't be able to see him anymore, but he's happy now."

…

I had reached the top of the stairs and almost tripped when I tried taking another step that wasn't there, guess I spaced out. I managed to grab the handrail to balance myself and somehow prevented myself from falling over before I walked into my room paying more attention to the world around me.

Upon entering my room I found Pikachu splayed out on my bed asleep. I sat down next to him and absentmindedly scratched him between the ears. It had been a long time before I fully understood what she had said that day.

…

I hadn't understood why everyone was so upset during the funeral. I missed him, but he was happy now right? I didn't understand why they were so depressed especially when they buried a container. Why was this container so important? I had tried to ask my Mommy, but she had just shushed me. That day confused me to no end.

It wasn't until much later that I fully understood the concept, and it wasn't until I was almost nine that I asked what had happened that day. I had understood by that time that everyone still had their Dad and that something had happened to mine. I had wanted to know what happened.

She had explained to me that my Dad, who worked in the Viridian City pokemart at the time, had been working his regular hours and was about ten minutes until the end of his shift. He had been working as the janitor that day and he was mopping the floors and apparently a drugged up teenager named Randy Watson had decided it was a great day to rob the same local pokemart. So he walked into the pokemart with his dad's .357 Magnum in his waistband and demanded that the cashier give him all the money. When the cashier refused Randy pulled out the gun from his waistband and took aim at the cashier and seeing all this Dad had dropped the mop he was holding and tried to tackle the shooter, but the shooter hearing the commotion quickly turned around pulling the trigger as he turned. The rounds flew through the air and found their mark hitting my Dad in the head, throat and chest. The rounds flung him against the wall (which left a big dent) and the revolver flew from the inexperienced shooter's grip and under a shelf. Randy just stood there with a confused look on his face like he didn't know what was going on and it didn't take long for the police to respond to the gunshots since they were luckily only half a block away. Randy was quickly arrested upon their arrival, but there was nothing to do for my Dad since he was already long gone. The chief of police then had the unfortunate job of calling mom and breaking the news.

…

I looked down at Pikachu who was now beginning to stir under my hand.

…

**Pikachu's Point of View**

I awoke to someone scratching my head. "Ooh, that feels good. A little to the right please," I pleaded to whoever it was and they obeyed. I stood up and stretched, popping my back in the process before yawning and opening my eyes.

My sight was greeted with Ash who was sitting on the bed right next to me with a small smile on his face, but that's not what got my attention. What did were his puffy eyes. It looked like he had cried.

"Pika Pikachu pika pi?" I asked _what's wrong Ash?_

"My Mom found Dad's old pocketknife," He told me, reaching into his jeans pocket and pulling out a pocketknife that he then handed to me. I looked at the faded red knife in my hands as I turned it around and around in my hands. No wonder why he was so upset. He really did miss his Dad, despite what others would think Ash wasn't always happy 24/7. Whenever he saw something that reminded him of his Dad it would make him smile, but other times…

I thought about all the times when something reminded him of his Dad and he would be awake that night quietly sobbing to himself. No one else luckily knew about these occasional sad fits that he had, he wasn't always sad either he was generally happy due to his nature. That just showed how much he really missed his Dad.

I was handing the knife back when I noticed the congealing blood on his finger. "Pika?" I asked.

"It's very sharp still after all this time," he informed me, wincing at the sight a little.

"Ah," was all I said in response to the new information. I then swiftly handed him the knife back.

"Come on Pikachu we need to get to Professor Oak's lab. He needs us there before noon for some reason or another," He said standing up and grabbing his yellow hiking bag, which was lying next to his nightstand already filled with anything a Pokémon trainer would need. I watched as he struggled to get the bag on. I wasn't surprised. With all the stuff he crammed in there in probably weighed forty pounds at least.

" Come on then let's go then," I chirped taking my place on his shoulders after he finally got his bag on.

He then looked at his replaced PokéBall clock and suddenly yelled, "Oh Arceus, it's 11:51. We're going to be so late, we got to hurry."

I smiled. Ash was already back to his normal attitude. You probably wouldn't have known he was sad earlier if you looked at him now. It was surprising at first how quick he could return from a bad mood to a good mood. Nothing let him down for long.

We rushed out of his room, down the stairs, and past his Mom (Who told us to slow down in a slightly shaky voice), and out the front door. We were on our way to Oak's lab.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Meeting

Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.

…

**Ash's Point of View**

I pushed my legs harder despite the drastically increasing burning sensation that had built up in them. I felt Pikachu's claws dig into my shoulder as he held on for dear life, he was trying to not fall off as I pushed myself further increasing my speed. I was flying down the road, and everything was a blur of green vegetation. I didn't know long I could keep this up.

I had to make it to Oak's lab in time, I just had to. I didn't want to show up late again and look the fool once more. Once was enough. As I dashed down the road as fast as I could I wondered for the hundredth time what Oak could have wanted. Thinking back on the past couple of months I realized that Oak had seemed more and more worried. Nothing you would notice by itself, but when you add it up it became painfully obvious. How he became easily started, his constant asking of me to explore the Kalos region, the disorganization slowly creeping into his lab, and the constant tired look on his face. Something was definitely up, and more I thought about it the more certain I became.

The whole time I was thinking about this I was running top speed, and I realized I couldn't breathe. I jerked to a sliding halt leaning dangerously forward swinging my arms in circles to try and maintain my balance, which almost sent Pikachu flying off my shoulder. I leaned over with my hands on my knees greedily sucking in huge gasps of air. I began seeing spots before my eyes that obscured my view of the small dirt road.

I stood there panting and gasping for breath for Arceus knows how long. But after a bit I finally was able to then stand up straight and breathe regularly. "Oh boy, that was fun," I voiced aloud.

"Pikachu," Pikachu replied concernedly.

"I'm fine," I reassured Pikachu while looking all around me, "Look, I think Oak's lab is right over that hill," I stated pointing to the hill in front of us.

"Chu," he nodded in agreement.

_What time is it? How much time do I have left?_

I looked at my wrist only to realize I wasn't wearing a watch.

_Did I really just do that? I don't even own a watch! I can't believe I just did that._

I had never owned a watch and never even wore one before to my knowledge. I shook my head, dismayed at what I just did.

_I'm going crazy. All this lack of sleep from the nightmares is driving me crazy. Maybe I should start taking some sleeping pills at night, I'm sure my Mom would understand._

I felt Pikachu staring at me in confusion. "Pika pika?" He asked me, looking at me with concern in his eyes.

"Nothing, just me being stupid."

…

**Pikachu's Point of View**

"You're not stupid," I reassured him to which he only shook his head.

"Come on let's go," He said suddenly sprinting towards the hill. I dug my claws into his shirt once more to prevent myself from falling off. He was running full sprint again and you could see the sweat running down his forehead past his closed eyes. He was really straining to get there.

_Wait a minute, closed eyes!?_

I looked again. Yes his eyes were closed. He was running full tilt… with his eyes close.

"Come on, come on, come on I don't want to be late," He muttered to himself.

_Oh Arceus, oh Arceus, oh Arceus this isn't going to turn out well at all._

I closed my eyes too. Even though he was probably only running for a minute so far it felt like hours. I could hear the air whish past me and feel the air whip through my fur. Every running step threatened to throw me off his shoulder so I clung on tighter for life.

Then it happened. I felt Ash slam into something else, and I was flying. Flying for days it seemed before smacking my head into a hard wall and sliding down it. I stood up and turned around, but only for a moment before I fell flat on my face from the nauseating feeling that had built up. I hurt all over and felt like I was going to faint or vomit, but I forced myself to keep my eyes open and to keep my stomach to myself.

The scene before me was not quite what I expected. Instead of Ash running into something with his eyes were closed he ran into a someone, a someone I didn't know.

The boy groaning on the ground next to Ash looked to be about the same age, but you couldn't really tell from the position I was in. Suddenly the boy got up and yelled, "How about you look where you're going next time and try not to run into me."

Ash was suddenly up too as if he hadn't just run his way here. "Run into you!? You ran into me. Look what you did to Pikachu," He yelled back, gesturing to me with his hand.

"Yeah, well look what you did to Plusle and Minun. They're way over there at least six feet away!" he retorted.

I looked over at Plusle and Minun. The cheering Pokémon were trying to standup by supporting each other, they finally managed to stand up with their hands on each other's shoulders. It was probably about time I got up too. I stood up ignoring the pain in my shoulders, neck, and stomach, and jumped back onto Ash's shoulder trying not to wince.

"What are you doing at Oak's lab? I've never seen you before. What could Oak want with you?"

The venom in Ash's words surprised me, he was almost never mean. His lack of sleep must really be affecting him.

"I could say the same thing about you." the boy replied.

Ash paused not saying what he was about to say. He seemed to be processing the last statement. "What do you mean," He asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Professor Oak told my Dad who told me that he needed to tell me something important."

My eyes widened in surprise. I closely examined the dark skinned boy. He was taller than Ash by a couple of inches and he had close-cropped black hair and he had bright green eyes that looked capable of staring into one's soul. He donned a white A-Shirt trying to show off the muscles on his arms and was also wearing black ripped jeans, hiking boots, and black leather fingerless gloves. He apparently thought he was some kind of tough guy or something. I watched as Minun and Plusle took their respective places on his shoulders.

"Surprising," A familiar voice said from the direction of Oak's lab. I sharply turned my head to see Gary Oak, Ash's rival turned researcher, leaning against the doorframe.

"What are you doing here Gary?" Both Ash and the boy asked at the same time causing them to glare at each other for a second before turning their attention back to Gary.

"What? Am I not allowed to visit gramps?" Gary asked, walking forwards with his arms raised in mock surrender.

"Yeah, but could you at least explain who he is," Ash asked, pointing at the other boy.

"And who he is." The other boy said pointing at Ash.

"I'm not really surprised about you, Ash, not knowing someone, but come on. Out of like fifty kids in all of Pallet Town I would think you would recognize a fellow trainer from your own town. And you, Ben, I don't even know how you would not know someone here. Now why don't you two make up and shake hands and introduce yourselves." Gary said with a smile at the last part.

I could see the shock on Ash's face when he realized Gary knew who the boy was. Although Ash quickly wiped the shocked expression off his face Gary's smile grew larger.

Ash stuck out his hand to which the other boy grabbed it. I could tell Ash didn't like this one bit. "I'm Ash Ketchum and this is my buddy Pikachu," Ash said disdainfully while shaking the boy's hand.

"And I'm Benjamin Walker, but everyone calls me Ben, and these," he pointed to Plusle and Minun, "are my trainees, Plusle and Minun."

Plusle and Minun jumped off Ben's shoulder and onto the ground.

"Plus plusle?" Plusle asked in a singsong voice _are you going to greet us?_

"Minun, min min?" Minun asked _yeah, are you?_

"Pika pikachu," I said jumping off Ash's shoulder _sure why not._ Just because Ash is mad at someone doesn't mean I have to be too I thought to myself.

They both said _great_ before giving each other a sparkling high five with huge grins on their faces. They then both stuck out their hands to which I stuck out mine. It was then I noticed the wicked grins on their faces. I tried to pull my hands back, but it was too late. They jumped forward each one grabbing one hand completing the electrical circuit. Even though I was an electric type it still hurt a whole heck of a lot. I tried to stay still, but the electricity still caused me to shake somewhat. This only caused the cheering Pokémon to laugh.

_Assholes._

I was mad at them now all right. To hell with the idea that I don't have to mad at them because Ash was. They were pricks, but strong pricks at that.

Ash who must have been watching the whole event go down swiftly picked me up and cradled me to his chest.

"Look what your Pokémon did to Pikachu," Ash yelled at Ben his finger pointing accusingly; mad at what Ben's Pokémon did to me.

"They were just joking," Ben responded casually, like it happened every day.

"Yah? Well that's a cruel joke."

"It's not my fault that your Pikachu is a crybaby."

"Take that back! No one calls Pikachu a crybaby."

"Make me."

"Ok I will," Ash said putting me on the ground. Plusle and Minun quickly jumped off Ben's shoulders. Right before they could throw punches at each other Gary jumped in front of them pushing them apart.

"Cut it out we have company," He yelled at them.

_Company?_

I looked around and that's when I saw her. An emolga flying over to me and at first I thought it was Iris' Emolga, but I quickly changed my mind when I noticed the scar on her back. It looked like a circle with a smaller one inside with four lines going through them. She landed next to me and looked at me for a couple second before saying meekly, "_Hi_."

"Uhh… Hi," I responded. She then quickly ran up to me touched one of my ears with one of her fingers. She then ran off before jumping into flight and landing into most likely what were her trainer's arms.

_So this was our company?_ They just stood there not making any attempts to come closer. They seemed to be talking to each other the whole time and behind me I heard Gary sigh.

"Excuse me," he started, "It appears I'm going to have to drag them over here." Gary walked all the way over to the trainer and grabbed his wrist pulling the boy over to the other two.

"This is Mikey. He also knows Oak and that's why he came," Gary introduced the boy standing next to him. Mikey looked at the ground the whole time letting his long blonde hair fall over his black and orange headband to cover his face. "I've only met him a couple of times, but they say he's really good. Almost as good as you two are." From my lower vantage point I could see him blush a deep red on his extremely pale cheeks. "Now you are probably wondering why Oak called you here right?"

There were nods of agreement, even Mikey nodded slightly. "Well the bad news is that you missed Oak by a good ten minutes." Gary told us, much to our dismay while he walking towards the lab door with everyone following him. "But the good news is," Gary started once they were inside the disorganized lab, "Knowing about your tendencies to be late," He looked at the three of them individually with a smirk on his face, "he left me a note." He finished showing them all the note that he pulled from his pocket.

…

**A/N: I want to know how to improve this story! Tell me what you like and what you hate about this story! Is it realistic? Is it annoying? If you don't want to read it anymore will you please tell me why? I plan on using your reviews to improve the story so please tell.**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Tournament

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.**

…

**Ash's Point of View**

"Are you going to read the note, or just hold it?" Ben asked impatiently.

I silently agreed with him. I wanted to know where Oak had went and why, and what about my Pokémon? What had happened to them?

Gary seemed to snap out of the daze he was in as he continued. "Sorry I was wondering why he left in such a rush that he did. He insisted that I come with him, but I told him 'nothing he said what get me to go'. I _did just_ get here a couple of hours ago after all," Gary explained to us, "So he left and gave me this note and told me not to read it till you all get here."

"Wait," said a quiet voice from behind us. We all turned around to see that Mikey had finally spoken up after many minutes of silence. I got a complete view of his face for the first time and saw he had a well-defined face with his cheeks lightly covered in freckles, but the most startling feature was his piercing sky-blue eyes. Noticing everyone staring at him in expectation, he hugged the Emolga in his arms tightly and quickly finished, "Does that mean Oak knows all of us?"

I was surprised. I hadn't considered that it meant that Oak knew us all if he left the note for all of us. "I hadn't thought of that, but if what Gary said is true and that Ben," I said jerking my thumb in his general direction, "is one of the Pokémon trainers from Pallet then it makes sense that Oak would know him."

"Of course he knows me, Captain Obvious." He retorted, his tone snarky.

I ignored him keeping my cool by taking deep steady breathes while asking, "What about you, Mikey? How do you know Professor Oak?" I asked him.

"Pika?" Pikachu also asked, he seemed curious as well.

Mikey seemed to want to disappear. The boy stood with his back hunched staring at his black and orange sneakers that were barely visible past his too long dark blue cargo pants. The boy shook his head slightly causing his hair to swing back and forth before saying, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, you don't have to," I replied, feeling the deep sadness in his voice.

"Stop your blabbering guys. I want to find out what the note says," Ben demanded impatiently, he was starting to get on my nerves.

Gary looked down at the crinkled sheet of notepaper covered in Professor Oak's almost illegible handwriting. "Ok, the note says," Gary started before he cleared his throat, "If you are reading this than you have obviously missed me (well no duh). I left to do some important research around the world. I plan on being gone for a long time, anywhere from a few months to a year and a half. I wanted to tell you all goodbye before I left, but I apparently wasn't able too. I'm sorry I couldn't inform you all of this ahead of time, but the issue came up pretty quick and I had to leave at once. Sorry for inconveniences this may cause you. Yours sincerely, Samuel Oak. P.S. By the way since I was going to be gone so long I did the liberty of putting all your Pokémon in the PC since I can't take care of them all while I'm gone. Gary if I couldn't convince you to come I left you anything you might need in the safety box." Gary paused at the last part. "Sweet, only junk food for the next month," he said shaking his fist in the air and running into another room where I guessed the safe box was.

I turned the note over in my head. Luckily Oak kept a PC in his lab or I'd have to walk to Viridian. Something about the note seemed off to me, maybe something to do with the wording. I pushed the thought away

_I'm just being paranoid._

I shook my head trying to dislodge the thought from my head, but failed a little.

"Well then, I have to go to the PC. All of my Pokémon except Minun and Plusle are currently there then."

I nodded my head in agreement, "Me too." To which Ben looked back at me on his way to the PC a little shocked, but he quickly kept walking.

Mikey didn't say anything, but he followed us to the PC so I guess he also left his Pokémon in there too.

_It's kinda weird how we're so much alike, but so different at the same time._

We finally arrived at the PC. Ben logged in since he was ahead of everyone else so he got there first. Once the PC was finally finished booting up he went to the Pokémon storage app and double clicked it. We watched it load painfully slow. Ten percent… thirty percent… forty percent… sixty percent… then a blue screen.

"What?" Ben asked confused at first, but quickly realizing with dawning horror what had happened. "No No Noooo!" He slammed his fist on the screen. "Now's not the time to crash on me! I was going to get my Aagron and my Flygon!"

"Just restart it," Mikey suggested quietly, keeping a death grip on Emolga who didn't seem to be bothered by his killer squeezing.

"I know, I know," Ben said hitting the restart button and watching it carefully.

While waiting for the computer to restart I scratched Pikachu behind the ear causing him to coo. The computer finally turned itself off and back on only to have the screen filled completely with techno babble.

"No!" Ben yelled at the PC, "why now?!"

"What's all the screaming about? I was planning to ignore it, but I had to know." Gary questioned.

I turned to see Gary walk through the door. "Curiosity killed the meowth," I mumbled as he walked by, luckily he didn't hear me.

"I was gonna take out my best Pokémon from the PC but the darn thing crashed. How am I going to battle with only Minun and Plusle?" He demanded to know, clearly mad at the current situation at hand.

Gary laughed before saying, "You mean you only kept those two Pokémon on you? I bet even Mikey and Ash are smarter than that," he then looked at us expectantly.

I looked away, suddenly developing an interest with the large stacks of all different color and size papers lying in a heap on one of Oak's desks. I blushed at my stupidity before I quickly glanced back to see Gary staring at us with a huge grin. I also noticed that Mikey was also looking away, looking at a wall.

"You guys are a riot!" He laughed out. "So let me get this straight, you left all your Pokémon in the PC but your main Pokémon, then the computer crashes and you're all like 'oh no I don't know what to do'. I think they should have sent you guys to clown school, not on a journey to become a Pokémon Master in fact."

"Shut up, Gary," Ben told him threateningly.

_Man, I could give you a high five right now. You may be an asshole, but right now you're my kind of asshole._

"What? You don't tell me to shut up." Gary retorted indignantly.

"Yeah? Well I'll tell you again: Shut the hell up!" He yelled, getting up in Gary's face.

"Ok, that's it. I challenge you to a battle right now!" Gary yelled back to him.

"You're on. Tag battle. My Minun and Plusle versus," He gestured to Gary's waist, "whatever you have on you."

"Fine, I'll pulverize you three ways till Sunday." Gary said as he pulled two pokeballs off his belt.

"Wait, shouldn't we do this outside?" Mikey asked timidly, he looked really nervous.

Gary sighed, "Whatever. I wouldn't want to clean up the mess a battle would create anyways." Gary voiced as he briskly walked out of the room along with Ben the whole time staring at each other.

I turned towards Mikey "You want to battle after they do?" I asked him.

"Sure," was all he said shrugging his shoulders.

With that done, we then hurried after Ben and Gary

…

**Pikachu's Point of View**

Upon reaching the outside I had to squint my eyes against the harsh sunlight.

_It's way too dark in that lab._

Once my eyes adjusted to the brightness I saw that the battle had already started. I climbed on top of Ash's head to get a better view of the carnage.

Gary had apparently sent out his Blastoise and his Umbreon. They stood there utterly confident just like their trainer, I knew that Blastoise and Umbreon were pretty powerful Pokemon, but based on the shock that Minun and Plusle gave me they were pretty powerful too. Ben obviously had the advantage with Plusle and Minun being electric types while Blastoise was a water type.

On the other side of the field Minun and Plusle were doing a bit of warm up stretches before standing right next to each other, waiting for their trainers command.

A few feet away Mikey sat next to Emolga on the ground leaning forward in keen interest with his hands wrapped around his knees. Emolga sat leaning way back supporting herself with her hands. She looked up at me and saw me watching her causing her to blush profusely and turn away.

_Well, this is going to be interesting._

Ben decided to make the first move yelling out the first command, "Hold hands."

Plusle and Minun complied grabbing each other's hands tightly.

"Blastiose, use water gun. Umbreon, use shadow ball. Let's take these pipsqueaks down!" Gary commanded in return.

I quickly turned my head to see Blastoise unleash a large torrent of water from its cannons while Umbreon launched a ball seemingly made of shadows from its maw towards the two small electric Pokémon.

As the attacks rapidly approached them Ben quickly retaliated, he yelled out, "Use charge and endure it!"

Right before the attacks hit, Minun and Plusle were encompassed by a sparkling blue aura. As the attacks hit it produced an ear-shattering boom that rocked the ground.

I covered my ears and coughed at the same time as the explosion had kicked up a whole bunch of dust that filled the air around us. After my coughing spasm I looked around trying to find where everyone went and eventually the dust cleared enough for me to see Gary standing by his Pokémon looking smug. I looked to where Plusle and Minun had been standing earlier.

_I don't see them anywhere. Where could they be? …Wait… Is that them?_

I squinted and saw that it was indeed them. They were on the ground still holding hands about twenty feet away.

"Come on get up. Get up already you can take a hit," Ben yelled to his Pokémon.

I watched the brief look of disbelief on Gary's face as he saw the Cheering Pokémon get up. "Ok, this is serious now." He muttered. "Blastoise, use bite. Umbreon, use quick attack."

Blastoise and Umbreon, obeying their trainer, rushed towards their targets, intent of taking them out.

"Use charge again and wait for it," Ben called out to the cheering duo.

Again the Cheering Pokémon collected blue sparks around them and waited for their trainers command.

_What's he planning? He can't be doing the same thing he did last time, can he? It would be suicide! What tricks does he have up his sleeve?_

Blastoise and Umbreon were dangerously close to Ben's Pokémon when he yelled out, "Use fake tears!"

Minun and Plusle immediately threw themselves on the ground bawling their eyes out, tears shot out of their eyes like waterfalls.

Both of Gary's Pokémon both skidded to a halt, unsure what to do about the crying Pokémon at their feet.

Ben smirked as he quickly yelled out, "Now thunderbolt!"

Minun and Plusle instantly jumped to their feet snapping out of their crying fit as they prepared their attack.

Gary, realizing his trick too lately commanded, "Quick dodge it."

But it was too late. Minun and Plusle unleashed all their charged up energy onto their unsuspecting victims in a bright blue flash of intense lightning, it literally sent Blastoise and Umbreon flying thirty feet way. I couldn't believe my eyes.

_And I use to think charge was a useless move._

Gary's Pokémon practically landed at his feet, they hit the ground hard making a small quake and leaving a small crater before him. He stared in shock for a moment before pleading, "Come on come on. Get up get up. We can't lose. We have to win this."

I watched as Gary's Pokémon somehow managed to get back to their feet. That thunderbolt had done a ton of damage to Blastoise, it looked like it could barely stand. Umbreon looked a lot better, but you could still tell he had taken a lot of damage.

Before Gary had a chance to give his Pokémon another command Ben told his Pokémon, "Minun, Plusle, use swift."

Both cheering Pokémon gathered energy in their small paws before they shot a cluster of glowing stars at their opponents, about a hundred small energy based stars that flew through the air rapidly.

Gary yelled to his Pokémon almost pleadingly, "Dodge it."

Both his Pokémon jumped out of the way of the incoming stars, but didn't manage to dodge them when they came back around and hit them in their backs. Blastoise collapsed to the ground with a huge thud and swirls in his eyes. Umbreon was still standing after the attack, angry at what had just transpired. Dirty tricksters his eyes seemed to glare.

Gary recalled his Blastoise and seeming to have regained his cool said, "I guess it's up to you Umbreon. Use psychic to make them crash into each other!"

"Umbre!" Umbreon barked jumping forward as his normally eyes changed form their intimidating red to a shining blue. Not soon after Minun and Plusle were surrounded by blue light lifting them into the air and apart from each other. The Cheering Pokémon struggled in the air trying to get loose, but to no avail.

_Man, I hate psychic attacks._

Soon after the two cheering Pokémon were thrown into each other, which produced a solid thud sound before collapsing into the dirt.

"Get your butts off the ground and use swift," Ben demanded to his Pokémon.

I felt Ash grit his teeth underneath me. "What?" I asked him.

"I can't believe he's such a jerk to his Pokémon, Pikachu. Why would anyone treat their Pokémon like that?"

"I don't know," I responded watching Plusle and Minun pick themselves up off the ground, they looked weary and pretty exhausted.

The Cheering Pokémon then shot another cluster of glowing stars at Umbreon, the stars were less in number this time. Ranging around fifty it looked like to me.

This time around Gary seemed ready because he called out, "Umbreon, use psychic on the stars to make them collide into each other."

Umbreon's eyes turned blue once more as his psychic attack took effect, the stars turned blue as well before they crashed into each other until there were none left.

"Now Umbreon, Use shadow ball."

Umbreon obeyed, gathering up dark energy in his maw, he shot a shadow ball at the electric types. You could see his rage at having his partner defeated.

"Dodge it then use thunderbolt." Ben called out.

Both cheering Pokémon jumped out of the path of the shadow ball than exploded on the ground behind them before the two then released their thunderbolt attack with a yell, their attacks soared through the air towards the Umbreon.

"Use psychic to make them miss!"

Umbreon used psychic on one of them to make it go into the ground, but he wasn't quick enough to get the other one arching for him. The thunderbolt he missed hit him straight on electrifying him and causing his body to convulse. Afterwards Umbreon collapsed to the ground, but quickly got up with the urging from his trainer.

"Use psychic on Plusle and Minun again."

Umbreon's eyes once again started to glow blue again as Plusle and Minun also started to glow blue and rise up off the ground.

"Use swift once more and finish him." Ben yelled to them.

Minun and Plusle fired the glowing stars at Umbreon somehow while suspended in the air right towards Umbreon.

"Quick finish the attack."

The Cheering Pokemon then collided with one other at the exact same moment that swift hit Umbreon head on. The two attacks had somehow kicked up more dust, blocking out the view of the battle's aftermath.

_Who won? I can't see who yet. It's too dusty again to see._

I waited for the dust to clear and upon it clearing I saw two fainted Pokémon. Umbreon and Plusle, Minun was still standing by himself breathing heavily and looking rather beat up. That meant that Ben had won the battle.

Gary mumbled something I couldn't hear and withdrew his Pokémon in a flash of red light back into its pokeball, Gary then replaced the pokeball on his belt and stomped back into the lab slamming the door behind him with a bang.

After that Ben walked over to Minun and picked him up and placed him on his shoulder before saying. "Good job, Minun."

"Min minun," He said _thank you._ Then he looked at Plusle with sad look, "Minun," he said sadly shaking his head.

Ben walked over to the newly awakened Plusle. "I expect better of you. You shouldn't have fainted. Minun didn't faint. You shouldn't have either. You obviously need more training to prevent this from happening again." He told the red Pokemon sternly.

I could feel Ash tense up underneath me. This just added more fuel to the fire of Ash's dislike of the boy. I climbed down onto Ash's shoulder and got his attention, once he saw me I shook my head and waved my hand. "Just let it be." I told him, Ash relaxed just a bit with a sigh.

Ash and I then turned our attention back to Ben who was shifting through his bag for something. He seemed to go through every pocket before finding what he wanted. Ben pulled out two Oran berries and gave them to the Cheering Pokémon who gladly accepted them and nibbled away at them contently. Ben smiled and petted both of their heads caringly.

I smiled, glad to find out that the dark skinned boy wasn't a complete asshole after all.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Tournament Continues

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.**

**Ash's Point of View**

I walked up to Mikey startling him from his state of rest, upon hearing our arriving footsteps his eyes flew open and he jerked himself, almost looking like he threw himself, into a teetering standing position. Upon seeing it was only Pikachu and I he relaxed and finally regained his footing. Once he had steadied himself he looked down at the Emolga as it flew up to his shoulder and landed. Emolga then gazed at us and smiled hugely before cooing its name.

"Are you guys ready for the battle?" I asked, walking towards my side of the now vacant field. But when I turned to look at the other side of the field I saw Mikey already standing there with a shine in his eye. I was dumbstruck, gone was the small shy boy, gone was the insecure look on his face, gone was the shrinking into oneself stance. If you looked at Mikey now for the first time you would never have guessed him as the shy and insecure type. He looked like he could take on the world without a second thought, it was actually kinda scary seeing the changes that took place in a few seconds.

It just added to my belief that people are not always who you think they are. It seemed to be proven to me time and time again, sometimes people have more than one personality.

"We're ready to win," He roared, pumping his fist into the air bringing me out of my ponderings.

"Emol," Emolga chirped on his head.

I turned to see Ben on the sidelines also surprised by Mikey's sudden turn in demeanor.

I'm not surprised that he's surprised. Heck, I bet even Pikachu is surprised.

I quickly took a peek at a startled Pikachu and saw his befuddled look.

_Yup, I was right._

I looked back at Mikey and yelled, "Ok, let's get this going," I then looked at Pikachu on my shoulder, "Are you ready for this?"

"Pika pika," He said confidently before jumping off my shoulder and landing on all fours, his cheeks sparking excitedly with power and determination.

"Ok, let's go then!"

A strong breeze suddenly picked up and ripped through the area. I could feel my jacket ripple freely in the wind and I could see Pikachu's fur wave in small rolls. It was a refreshing wind bringing a coolness to the hot air that surrounded us. I turned my attention to Mikey, gauging him as his hoodie whipped with the wind.

_Why is he even wearing a hoodie in the first place? It's like 80 degrees out here._

Suddenly Mikey held his hand out to which Emolga immediately jumped on. Mikey then grabbed Emolga with both his hands and threw it into the air with a small grunt, Emolga after that did a front flip before flying a short way and landing on the ground and bowing elegantly.

I rolled my eyes.

_Show off._

"Ok," I decided to get started, "Pikachu use thunderbolt," I ordered, initiating the start of the battle.

"Pikachu," Pikachu yelled before releasing a bright bolt of lightning towards its target, it arched across the ground, sending dirt flying up in places.

"Dodge it, limbo style," He told Emolga, giggling slightly at the last part.

_Limbo style?_

Emolga watched the incoming thunderbolt until the very last moment where it arched up and flew through the air before leaning back so far that its ears touched the ground, and the thunderbolt flew overhead completely missing its target and blew up behind Emolga.

I mentally slapped myself.

_Limbo style. How did I not see this earlier? Although Emolga seems pretty good at dodging thunderbolts, what about physical attacks? How will it fare against those?_

"Ok Pikachu lets use quick attack!" I yelled, pointing towards Emolga.

Pikachu nodded as he jumped forward and ran at a blinding speed before smashing into Emolga's small body sending it flying; Emolga hit the ground, hard.

Not giving Mikey time to order a counter attack I told Pikachu. "Use thunderbolt again!"

Pikachu built up a thunderbolt in his cheeks, once there was enough he unleashed a powerful thunderbolt, and this time it found its mark efficiently.

"Emo," Emolga screamed in pain from the shock, despite it being an electric type it still appeared to take major damage.

"You can do this Emolga! Use double team then electro ball," Mikey ordered, urging his Pokémon to continue.

"Ga," Emolga muttered, managing to stand up after the attack. Emolga then held out its hands and then copied itself until there was over twenty Emolga surrounding Pikachu.

Pikachu looked all around looking unsure of which Emolga was the real one, they all looked completely the same. Pikachu's head swung back and forth trying to concentrate on all of the Emolga at the same time, but he kept failing miserably. Suddenly the Emolga all started charging up crackling balls of electricity in their hands to the dismay evident on Pikachu's face.

"Pikachu, Use thunderbolt on them as quick as you can!" I ordered.

"Pikachu," Pikachu yelled releasing a thunderbolt at one of the clones for it to only vanish upon the thunderbolt hitting it.

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

Emolga was almost completely charged up now. I was starting to get worried.

_There's too many for Pikachu to take down before the attack is launched!_

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

Emolga finally released their electro balls all heading for Pikachu.

_Oh no._

"Pikachu,"

"Pikachu,"

It was too late. The electro balls hit Pikachu knocking him to the ground although only one did damage it appeared to still be a fair amount. Pikachu struggled to stand on his feet, breathing heavily.

_Which one is the real one? The one that moves first? Would the one that moves first be the real one? That makes sense. It's kinda like a mirror. I'll try it._

"Emolga, use electro ball again," Mikey commanded.

I carefully watched the Emolga charge up their electro balls, everyone till I came to the left end. The one on the left's electro ball appeared a second before the others.

_That one!_

"Pikachu use thunderbolt on the one to the far left," I called out.

"Pika," Pikachu said nodding before unleashing another powerful thunderbolt on the Emolga, the Emolga called out in pain and the other Emolga suddenly disappeared.

"Good job," I congratulated, "Pikachu. Now use iron tail!" I called out, feeling a surge of adrenaline rush through my veins.

Pikachu lifted his tail as it started to glow a bright white, smirking, he charged towards Emolga.

Seeing Pikachu quickly approaching Mikey quickly commanded, "Fly away with agility."

Pikachu swiped his tail at the hastily moving Emolga, but barely missed by a couple inches.

_Whoa, that was fast._

"Ok Pikachu, we can do this." I reassured him, "Use iron tail one more time!"

"And how are you going to do that with Emolga in the air?" Mikey called out.

_Shoot, I didn't think of that… wait I'll just knock Emolga out of the air!_

"Like this. Pikachu slam Emolga to the ground with quick attack then use iron tail," I told Pikachu quickly.

Pikachu jumped into the air with a burst of bright light behind him. Pikachu flew though the air faster than Emolga even had time to respond sending it to the ground upon impact. And just as it bounced Pikachu then quickly followed up twisting his body in the air above Emolga and using his powerful iron tail he crashed down to the ground, smashing Emolga and sending it through the air until it hit the ground skidding to a stop.

"Emolga," Mikey cried out concernedly, "Are you alright?"

Emolga struggled to its feet and weakly nodded its head.

"Are you sure? You know you don't have to go on," he told it, voicing his concern.

It nodded its head again and took off, taking to the skies once more. "Emol," It told its trainer with its eyes on Pikachu the whole time.

Mikey smiled then yelled, "Ok, then use aerial ace!"

Seeing Emolga approaching at dangerously high speeds I yelled out, "Pikachu dodge it!"

Pikachu jumped to the side, but it did nothing to stop Emolga as it adjusted its flight path. Emolga swiped past at high speeds knocking Pikachu to the ground and flew past before turning around for another run. As soon as Pikachu had managed to stand back up he was promptly knocked back down. Pikachu was knocked down every time he was just managing to get up.

_They're beating the tar out of him. I have to stop this, but how?_

I suddenly had an inspirational picture of baseball game appear in my head. I watched in my mind as a baseball smacked into a bat.

_That's it!_

"Pikachu hit Emolga with iron tail when I say!"

Pikachu managed to jump up to his feet and turn his tail to iron; it glowed.

"Now wait for it, Pikachu." I told him, waiting for the moment to strike.

Pikachu stood patiently, waiting for my command to fell the Pokémon. Emolga was rapidly approaching and getting dangerously close by the second, coming in like a jet.

_Now._

"Pikachu use iron tail, NOW!" I yelled.

Pikachu swung his tail hard at the incoming Emolga and walloped it on the chest, hard. Emolga rocketed through the air and landed twenty feet away creating a small crater in the soft ground, it didn't get up. Mikey ran over to Emolga and picked it up. Mikey then slowly made his way back towards us with a fainted Emolga in his arms.

A tired looking Pikachu climbed onto my shoulder, his body was covered sweat. "They're pretty good aren't they?"

"Chu," he nodded, agreeing.

Mikey finally stopped a few feet away from us. He looked at me, but then looked away. "You win, Emolga fainted. Good game," He looked down at Emolga who was half awake half asleep. "She did well didn't she?"

_He's a strange one. He was so bold during the battle, but now… but now he's so timid. Something about battling changes him so much. He also called Emolga a she, well at least I know now. I can't make an embarrassing mix-up now, how many times have I mixed up a Pokémon's gender? I don't think I want to think about it. Pokémon genders are so confusing._

Noticing Mikey waiting for an answer, I nodded my head. "You guys did quite well, not many people get close to beating me."

Pikachu poked me in the head, hard.

"Fine," I sighed, "People often get close to beating me, but I usually win."

Pikachu poked me again, but this time it lightly shocked me.

I hung my head and quickly said, "I'm only a decent trainer, but I did get to the top eight in the indigo league." I finished, looking at Pikachu who had a satisfied look on his face.

I looked back at Mikey who was looking down at Emolga in his arms. He was whispering quietly to Emolga and gently rubbing her cheek, she cooed in contentment.

Deciding to break the silence I asked, "So…um…how long have you been on your journey? I've been on mine for nine months, in fact I'll be turning eleven in little less than a month."

He looked up. "Well…um…let's see I left in August and it's now June so that's what, um nine months. Wow I'm bad at time," He muttered, mentally counting. "Yes, nine months," He finally said, louder this time.

"Wow we both started our journey around the same time. Isn't that cool? So did you start your journey in Unova since you have an Emolga or is Emolga not your starter?" I added the last part thinking about how Emolga was not exactly a starter Pokemon, but you never know, there were probably other people like me who got a different starter than what was normal.

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty cool. And yes, Emolga is my starter I got her when she hatched. Isn't that right, Emolga?"

I looked at Emolga as she yawned and slightly nodded her head before opening her steel grey eyes, she looked at me and Pikachu then Mikey and after that she closed them again.

"And did I start my journey in Unova? Yes and no." he told me, looking back up into the sky.

Before I could even ask what he meant, he asked me, "Nice weather we're having isn't it?"

I looked up into the cloudy afternoon sky as a strong wind blew them away from us, they moved slowly across the sky.

_This is ridiculous. He really, __really__, doesn't like talking about his past. I wonder what happened that he doesn't want to talk about. He's just plain bad at trying to act like it doesn't exist. Anyone could see it, It was as plain as a Muk in a patch of flowers._

"It looks a bit cloudy. I think they said it was going to rain in the next couple of days." I voiced, just to humor him and his question.

"Chu," Pikachu muttered solemnly, looking up into the sky as well.

Mikey seemed to relax once I had answered his question. But, before Mikey could reply Ben called out from the sidelines, "Hey Ashes,"

_Great, just great. All I needed was another freakin' nickname._

"I was going to wait for you to finish talking or whatever, but you were taking forever. You want to have a battle? You look pretty good at battling. You may be the first challenging battle I'll have in awhile. It'll be really tough probably, but I'll win in the end. So you want to battle or what?

I felt a vein in my head pulse madly.

_Man, this guy really gets on my nerves. He's so aggravating._

I shook my head. "I can't, Pikachu just battled and he's tired and needs to rest." I told him, crossing my arms.

"Plusle's tired too but she's still willing to battle." Plusle nodded with a determined look, looking at Pikachu. "We'll just make it a short battle."

Sighing, I looked at Pikachu. "Are you ok? Do you feel alright to battle again?" I asked the Electric Mouse resting on my shoulder who looked dead tired.

"Pika," He told me, nodding his head telling me he was ready to go again.

"Okay Ben, Your Plusle versus my Pikachu." I decided.

Pikachu jumped off my shoulder and back onto the field, his cheeks sparking wildly like a downed power line. Plusle also jumped off Ben's shoulder while Minun watched keenly from the other shoulder. Mikey quickly backed off the field standing on the sidelines once again.

"Ok Pikachu let's start this off. Use quick attack." I said, starting off.

Pikachu suddenly burst forward, running at an extremely fast pace towards the single Cheering Pokémon.

"Counter with swift." Ben told her, crossing his arms.

Plusle's hand started to glow before sending out tons of glowing stars all heading for Pikachu, hundreds of them it seemed.

"Pikachu, spin dodge through them and hit Plusle." I yelled to Pikachu, watching the two intently.

Pikachu obeyed my command as he began jumping through all the incoming stars while spinning around and around and ending up hitting Plusle straight in the chest, effectively knocking her down on her butt.

"We're not going to lose again Plusle, use fake tears," Ben ordered, urging Plusle to keep on.

Plusle started bawling with tears running down her face. I watched in horror as Pikachu softened his guard upon seeing the Cheering Pokémon cry.

"Get away Pikachu! It's a tr-" but it was too late.

Before I could even finish my sentence Ben had cut me off yelling, "Swift again!"

Plusle jumped up and hands glowing and released many shiny stars that impacted with Pikachu sending him flying. But Pikachu twisted in midair, and recovered before landing on all four feet. I inspected Pikachu closely, and it appeared that swift had done a fair amount of damage.

_I had to avoid Pikachu taking any more damage at all costs; I don't think he would be able to make it through another swift attack. I should have used volt tackle earlier when it was still an option… but now…_

But another attack came to mind. "Ok Pikachu, let's use thunderbolt, full power," I finally commanded, feeling beads of sweat running down the back of my neck.

Pikachu nodded and jumped in the air. "Pikachu!" He roared, unleashing a blinding thunderbolt arching towards Plusle.

"Use charge and absorb it," Ben yelled, smirking.

Plusle gathered electricity around her as the thunderbolt hit her, but it didn't appear that the thunderbolt had done any damage at all. In fact it had only made Plusle's charge field grow to huge proportions, the charge field was whipping around her like a crazy whirlpool of pure energy!

"Ok Plusle, show them what a real thunderbolt is," He screamed, with a wicked grin on his face.

Plusle released all the pent up electrical energy in an ear-shattering explosion of a lightning bolt the size of a light pole

_HOLY SHIT!_

"Pikachu get out of the way, NOW!" I yelled, desperation in my voice.

Pikachu managed to jump to the side with just moments to spare as the overpowered lightning bolt shot past Pikachu and blew up on the ground twenty feet away. The explosion literally shook the ground beneath me, making me stumble lightly.

_That lightning bolt was way overpowered! I can still fill my hair sticking up straight, no telling how bad it looks although. Anyways there is no way that I can have Pikachu use another thunderbolt, I can't risk it being absorbed. Darn I'm running out of options here._

"Ok Pikachu use quick attack to get close, then use iron tail." I told him, feeling another slight wind whip everything around.

"Pika," He agreed, preparing his attack.

Pikachu rushed forwards covering the ground between them as his tail started to glow. Just as he began to swipe his tail Plusle jumped out of the way at her trainer's command, the iron tail completely missed, but I told Pikachu to attack again. This time Pikachu swung his tail high and knocked Plusle to the ground in midair when she tried to jump out of the way. Plusle quickly got back to her feet ready for her trainer's command.

"Plusle, use swift!"

"Pikachu use iron tail one more time," I commanded at the same time as Ben.

Pikachu swung his tail at Plusle at the same time she released swift from her hands causing the attacks to collide exploding and sending up a huge dust cloud, blocking out our view of the two.

_Darn. Why do Pokémon attacks have to be so explosive? And why is this field so dusty?_

I considered the last question as the dust was settling.

_Well now that I think about it we haven't had any rain in the past month. Man, I hope Pikachu is ok._

The dust seemed to be settling extremely slowly just to aggravate me. I looked to the sidelines to see Mikey watching keenly while his recovered Emolga watched with a concern look on her face.

_I wonder if… nah that's unlikely._

The dust was finally clearing enough for me to see Pikachu. He was still standing! Although he didn't look so good, he was breathing heavily and looked to be in a great deal of pain. His fur was wildered up making him look wild and crazy. He was practically dead on his feet, and looked like he would faint any moment now.

I looked to where Plusle was. She was also still standing! She was in the same condition that Pikachu was. I looked up from Plusle to Minun to Ben. The look on his face told me that he knew as well as I did that this battle was now more of a waiting game then a battle, and he knew with his smug look that he was going to win.

Minun although was quite different. The look on his face showed that he was restraining himself from running to the field and helping his fellow Cheering Pokémon.

I watched for what seemed like hours, but in reality was probably only a couple of seconds. Then Pikachu started to teeter.

"Come on Pikachu. Stay strong! You can do this," I encouraged my partner, I prayed he could stay up.

Just when it seemed that Pikachu was going to faint Plusle suddenly collapsed to the ground unconscious. Just a moment later so did Pikachu. I rushed to Pikachu's side and quickly picked him up in my arms before standing back up.

I looked at Ben to see him rooted to his spot staring at Plusle in shock with his mouth agape; he had a whole air of astonishment about him. The Minun on his shoulder looked really upset.

_Minun looks like he's going to cry. Minun and Plusle are obviously really close, but then again so are all the Plusle and Minun that I've known._

A moment later Ben closed his mouth and regained his cold and snarky exterior, he speedily scooped up the fainted Plusle and looked at it with a look of disapproval.

"I expect better of you. You can't just slack off like that. You're not allowed to be beaten by two runts twice in a row."

Angry at his way of treating Pokémon, I yelled, "Hey I resent that! Just cause I'm about five inches shorter than you does not make me a runt; I'm actually a normal height for my age. And you shouldn't treat your Pokémon so harshly, it's cruel."

After the end of my rant he continued, "You'll be seeing some serious training sessions in the future. We don't want to be beat by simple weaklings again do we?" not waiting for a response from the fainted Plusle he continued his scolding, "If we're not serious about our training then we will be beat all the time by weak trainers like Ashes here, we can't allow that to happen as it'll ruin our record. I told you when we first met that I expect better than the best and nothing less, you accepted and came along. You know the rule no slacking to improve on improvement."

I gritted my teeth at the names he called me, and how he seemed to treat his Pokémon so unfairly, although it did cause a question to pop into my head.

How did he get Plusle and Minun in the first place if he lived in Pallet Town originally? I doubt that Professor Oak gave them to him as his starter. I don't think he would give extreme rare Pokémon in Kanto to a starter trainer. It makes the most sense that he got them from the Hoenn region, but what was the starter that Oak gave him, if any?

Finished with his scolding he started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I called out to him.

"Home," was his only reply.

I watched as he walked past the Lab and continued on his way.

"Hmmm… he lives on the other side of Pallet town. Interesting."

"Pika?" Pikachu asked weakly from my arms.

"I don't know what I think yet. I don't approve of his training methods though, I'm sure of that."

"Pi."

I turned around to head for home and saw Mikey and a tired Emolga getting up from the hard ground and stretching. I quickly walked over to them.

"Hey Mikey, so where do you live?"

The question made him look uncomfortable. "I uh actually don't live in Pallet town. I live in Viridian City you know the city that's like twenty-five miles away." He said after fidgeting a bit.

_Viridian? If he lives in viridian how did he start his journey in Unova?_

"Yeah I know Viridian City, but how woul-,"

Mikey cut me off, "You know I should get going Viridian is pretty far away and it's getting pretty late."

"But it's like only one o'clock."

"Well you know what they say early bird gets the worm. See ya bye."

He ran off to the north in the direction of Viridian, Emolga holding tightly onto his head.

"We've met some pretty strange people this time haven't we?" I asked Pikachu, putting him back on my shoulder.

"Kachu," he sighed in agreement then winced slightly in pain.

"Oh yeah we should use a potion on you," I said as I took my bag off and took out a potion from one of the pockets, I sprayed Pikachu with the potion and watched as he recovered. "Better?"

"Pika," He nodded vigorously, looking better then before.

I quickly replaced Pikachu back onto my shoulder. "Well, we should get going since there's nothing to do here now."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Frozen Breath

**Disclaimer: I Do Not Own Pokémon or anything created by anyone else.**

…

_"Sir, Units are in position. Should we commence operations?"_

_"No wait, I want to be sure of no outside interference. Now, what do you have on the position of Mew?"_

_"Sir, we have indeed confirmed that Mew is in the area."_

_"Good, any complications?"_

_"No Sir, we have had no complications of any kind. Everything is going according to your plan."_

_"Great, but I still want the upmost caution on this one."_

_"Yes Sir."_

**Pikachu's Point of View**

Heading back, this time at a much slower pace, we talked about anything and everything that entered our minds. Ash told me about his opinion on Ben and Mikey while I agreed or disagreed to his occasional questions. Such as I agreed that Mikey was obviously hiding something, and that something, was the question. Later, I disagreed with Ash over his opinion that Ben treated his Pokémon unfairly. I did agree however that Ben treated his Pokémon a bit harshly, but he cared for them and he was trying to get them to their fullest potential. I also tried to explain that his Pokémon seemed ok with the way he was treating them. In the end it was their choice if they were ok or not. Luckily Ash got the gist of what I was saying.

Talking about the new people we had met we ended up talking about fond memories about Dawn, May, and all the others who had joined on our journey before. We laughed at the funnier memories we remembered. We had so many great adventures and laughs over the course of our journey so far.

In no time at all we were crossing the final hill on the way back to the house. The house was no more than 300 feet away at the bottom of the hill, and Ash apparently decided that this was a good time to race home since he started sprinting down the hill. Taking a second to realize that he was running full speed down the hill I took pursuit after him.

By the time we were almost at the house I had almost caught up to Ash. I was about to pass him when he stopped mid-run at the door. I tried to skid to a stop, but unsuccessfully collided into his leg and bounced off only making him jerk forwards slightly. I got up and stumbled over to him rubbing my sore head hoping that it wouldn't swell later.

"Pika?" I asked looking up at his questioning look apparent on his face.

Hearing me he looked down, "I don't know if I should come in or not. I don't know what she does in the middle of the day. She could be sleeping and I don't want to wake her up. So… I guess maybe I should enter quietly then."

Ash pulled out his keys and briskly and quietly unlocked the front door. Upon entering the house the smell of vanilla that I had quickly become accustomed to assaulted my nostrils, it always smelled like vanilla in this house.

_I wonder if its vanilla scented candles or something. I've never really asked._

I could hear his mother talking to herself about seemingly random numbers. I looked at Ash, but he only shrugged. He was probably as confused as I was.

On his way into the living room Ash hung his hat on the coat rack on the wall. Silently walking into the living room, I saw his mom sitting on the big couch facing away from us towards the window. She was holding something in her hands.

"Let's see. It could be eight or possibly two. And over here that has to be a three… yes three. This could be 3, 4, or 7… wait no not 7 because there is a 7 here…"

From atop Ash's shoulder I could see that Delia was sitting on the couch with a Sudoku book in one hand and a pencil in the other. She would occasionally fill in a square between seconds of mumbling to herself and chewing on the end of the pencil.

"What goes here though? I have no clue. What could it be…"

"Five," said Ash finally deciding to speak up.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee," she shrieked jumping up and quickly turning around, seeing that it was only Ash she instantly relaxed. "Don't do that Ash, you scared me!"

Mr. Mime at that moment came in at the sound of her scream. "Mr. Mime?" he said worriedly.

"It's okay, Ash just startled me," She said putting the Sudoku book and pencil on the coffee table.

"Mr. Mime?"

"Yes we're fine. You can leave now."

Mr. Mime then walked out of the room to go back to doing, who the hell knows what he was doing.

"Why are you here, Ash? You don't usually come back home till around 5. And what about the think Oak wanted you for?"

"Well that's the thing. He left Pallet."

"He what?" she questioned.

"Yeah," Ash started, "he left Pallet to go on some desperately urgent important research or something."

"I'm surprised I didn't hear of this before. Usually word spreads quickly around here when anything big is happening. It must have been not that long ago that he found out about whatever made him leave."

"Well more importantly, you know what happened after that?"

"What?"

"He put all my Pokémon in the PC before he left."

"Well that seems nice."

"No, no, no that's not it. After that when we logged on to the PC."

"What's so different about that? And 'we'?"

"Yeah, there were two other kids there. Anyways when we logged on the PC crashed so I couldn't get my Pokémon. Crashed, now when I want to get my Pokémon I'll have to go all the way to Viridian!"

"It crashed?"

"Yes!"

"Is that bad?"

Ash slapped himself in the face. "Yes Mom, it is very bad."

"Well ok. What where the names of the other two with you? And you said you're going to Viridian?"

"The two other people are Mikey and Ben. And I plan on going to Viridian tomorrow to get my Pokémon."

"Okay sounds good, but Ben? Ben as in Ben Walker?"

"Uhh yeah, I guess. I don't think I caught his last name."

"I want you to stay away from him. I hear he is a real troublemaker. I don't want you associating with people like that. I hear that he has been caught multiple times vandalizing stuff and causing ruckus over the town. You'll stay away from him. Right?"

"Like I need any more encouragement to stay away from him," Ash mumbled to himself, unaware Delia almost caught it.

"What did you say, son?"

"Yes, Mom."

_Man, everything seems to be back to normal. It's like they didn't even talk about something as big as his Dad this morning. To anyone else you would never have expected anything major happening this morning. Ash probably just forgot about it, but his Mom. She must be hiding it. I don't think there is any way she could have forgot about it already. Now that I think about this it reminds me of the time when my- SHUT UP! Don't think about that. Thinking about that does nothing for you._

I turned my attention back to Ash and his Mom to find out what I missed while in my thoughts.

"Ok, I'll clean my room. Happy?" Ash told his Mom grudgingly.

"Yes, now go do it."

"I am," Ash said stomping towards the stairs. Each step jerked me around threatening to throw me off his shoulder.

"Calm down before I fall off," I pleaded.

He seemed to understand as he stopped stomping **as hard**. He then quickly climbed the stairs and entered his room without stopping.

"I don't see why she was so interested in getting my room clean, it looks perfectly clean to me."

I jumped onto his bed and immediately fell over laughing. He had to be kidding me.

"I don't see what's so funny, Pikachu," He said in a completely serious tone.

This just caused me to laugh even harder and bang my fists on the bed. Managing to control the laughter after a couple seconds, I sat up and looked around.

The bed sheets and the blankets were in a heap on the floor and dirty clothes littered the room. Pokémon stuffed animals that he never got rid of were shoved in a corner along with useless junk he collected on our journey. The floor was even covered in dirt that had collected over the months of ill-use.

"Ok, fine I see. My room may be a little dirty."

"Understatement of the century," I said rolling my eyes.

"Whatever. If we're going to get this clean we better start now."

I jumped off the bed and swiftly grabbed a couple empty bags of chips and tossed them in the trashcan. Ash grabbed the bed sheets and started straitening them out on the bed. "Oh boy, this is gonna be fun," I sighed sarcastically.

…

**Ash's Point of View**

I plopped myself on my bed and sighed, Pikachu did the same. I just cleaned my whole room to my Mom's 'standards'. If my room was any cleaner you could use the floor as your mirror and the walls to determine what true white is. She checked how I was coming every thirty minutes and would get onto me if she found me slacking off. She wanted me to learn how to properly clean my room or so she said. Well my room was properly cleaned five hours later. There wasn't a streak of dust on anything.

_I can't believe I cleaned my room for five hours. Five! I didn't even know you could do that much cleaning. Why is it today that she insists that I clean my room so well? Probably cause I'm leaving tomorrow. What does she think I'm going to do? Go travel to another region? I'm only going to Viridian and back. I mean, gosh she worries way too much._

I patted Pikachu on the head. "I'm going to eat dinner then go to bed, I'm dead tired. How about you?"

"Pika," He said, nodding.

"Ok let's go."

I got up and Pikachu followed me as I made my way downstairs.

Mom was in the kitchen cooking hamburgers. I let the delicious scent fill my nostrils. My mom knew how to cook! The best part was she always seemed to know when I was hungry. I quietly waited for her to finish cooking the hamburgers in the skillet. While she was cooking I decided to get a plate and all the necessary supplies: hamburger buns, ketchup, cheese, pickles, onions, mustard, lettuce, and tomato. I also got out some cold French fries, which I put on the plate. By then my Mom had finished the hamburgers and gave me three of the four she made.

Sitting down at the table and making my sandwiches the way I like, I said, "Hey mom, I'm really tired so I'm gonna go to bed after this. Is that ok?"

"Sure honey! You've done a really good job today on cleaning your room. I'm really proud of you. Just make sure to brush your teeth and change your underwear before going to bed."

I hung my head. "Yes Mom."

_Always the underwear… always._

I then quickly ate my sandwiches and fries occasionally giving Pikachu a piece. In no time I had finished my sandwiches and my fries and went upstairs to get ready for bed.

After getting ready for bed I shut the blinds effectively terminating the light coming from the still existent sunlight. I then got into my soft and cozy bed and snuggled myself under the blankets.

"Good night Pikachu," I yawned loudly.

"Chu," He replied next to my head before laying down himself.

_I wonder… What five Pokémon should I get out of the PC? I guess maybe Snivy… no or Bulbasaur. I could get Quilava or what about… I don't know I'm too tired to think straight. I guess I'll know when I get to Viridian._

…

_Why must the darn sun be so bright! It's scorching my eyelids._

I rolled over onto my stomach and buried my face in my pillow. I closed my eyes tighter and tried to fall back asleep.

After some ten minutes later I groaned, "Uhhhhhhrrrg." I pushed myself up onto my elbows and squinted through blurry eyes at the clock on the wall.

8:03? That means I slept for over 14 hours! Arceus that's a long time, well at least I finally made up for all that sleep I've been missing.

Next to me Pikachu snored loudly. "Ah, wake up," I said shaking Pikachu, "It's been over fourteen hours. You don't need any more sleep."

"Pika Pikachu," Pikachu grumbled loudly.

"You don't need any more sleep. Now get up!" I shook Pikachu even harder. Prodding a bit more I let up after he sat up finally. I sat up as well and then proceeded to pull a pair of socks out of my dresser drawer. I started getting dressed.

"We really got to get going Pikachu. It'll take six plus hours or so to get to Viridian… Now I really wish that Mom got me a bike for Christmas that one year… But anyways I figure that if we really hurry we can get back by tonight. Therefore we won't have to spend time in Viridian or any money to stay the night. What do you think?"

"Pika," Pikachu agreed, nodding.

"Ok it's a deal," I said pulling on my jeans and finally placing my hat on my head. I reached down to grab my shoes, but quickly realized they were downstairs by the door where I put them after cleaning. "Darn, I hate cleaning." I turned my head towards Pikachu and whispered, "Come on my shoes are down stairs, so we have to be quiet. I don't want to wake my mom, If she finds out I'm leaving she'll probably make me go back upstairs and pack more underwear and all that junk."

I silently left the room with Pikachu on my shoulder. I luckily remembered to get my backpack just as I was leaving the room so I quickly ran back in and got it. We then hurriedly made our way down the stairs and I saw my shoes at the door just where I had put them. I didn't waste any time, I quickly made my way over and put my shoes on in a flash. I then rested my hand on the doorknob.

_So far, so good. I might actually make it out of here this-_

"Ash Ketchum, what do you think you're doing?"

_Shit._

I turned around to see my Mom. It wasn't a pretty sight. She had on a green goo facemask and curlers in her hair. To top it off she was wearing a fuzzy pink bathrobe and slippers.

"Well, Uhhh… I was being quiet not to interrupt your beauty sleep."

"And why are you leaving so early in the morning then?"

"Well you know; Viridian is pretty far away, just trying to get a head start and all. Heheh," I chuckled nervously.

She sighed. "I love you son. Please be careful. I don't want anything to happen to you. You hear?"

"Yes, Mom."

"Did you bring plenty of supplies to last the whole trip? Speaking of which when will I see you back anyways?"

"Yes I brought plenty of supplies," Seeing as my Mom was about to interrupt I continued, "And yes I did bring extra underwear. The trip shouldn't last that long. I should be back by late tonight or early tomorrow."

"Ok, I love you," She stepped forwards trying to kiss my forehead, but I stepped back.

"Nuh uhn. Your face is covered in that face mask stuff."

"Oh. Oh yeah, sorry," She laughed embarrassedly.

"Yeah… well I should be going now…" I trailed off opening the door.

"Go, but be careful,"

"I will, Mom, bye," I walked out and closed the door behind me before she could decide to say anything else.

"Well that went better than I thought," I told Pikachu.

"Pika pika," He nodded.

…

"Uhhhhhhh, I'm tired of walking. You're lucky you're getting a lift."

Pikachu snickered.

"Laugh all you want. I might just make you walk." That shut Pikachu up real quick. "That's what I thought."

Suddenly a bush started shaking to the left of us. I whipped my head to the left soaking in the view of the bush. It was just a normal green leafed bush with yellow flowers, a wild Rattata then popped out of the bush bearing its fangs at us.

"You wanna battle Pikachu?" I asked excitedly.

"Pi-Ka," Pikachu jumped off my shoulder and got in a battle stance.

"Ok, Thunderbolt let's go!"

Pikachu shot a thunderbolt at the Rattata so fast that it didn't even have time to dodge. The Rattata dropped to the ground in defeat. I reached for a Pokéball on my belt.

_Never had a rattata. It would be a good- Where's my belt? And my pokéballs?!_

I patted my belt loops and found that I indeed was not wearing my belt as I expected.

I suddenly had a flashback of me cleaning my room and hanging my belt with all my empty pokéballs on it in my closet.

"Shoot, What do I do now?" My loud voice woke the rattata up and it quickly scampered back into the tall grass.

"Why do I never carry extra pokéballs?" I looked down at Pikachu. He only shrugged. "I can't go back home now. We've been walking for two hours!" I paused, "Gosh darn it this sucks."

I felt Pikachu pat my leg. I looked down at him. He looked up at me at the same time with concern in his eyes. He then proceeded to hug my leg.

"Thanks for trying to make me feel better." I said to which he nodded.

"Pika pika pikachu," He said solemnly.

"I guess we better get going. No reason we should stop now until lunch time."

"Pika pika?"

"Hmmm… maybe in about two hours from now. Sound good?"

He nodded.

I sighed. "Ok let's get going we can't waste anymore time."

…

I collapsed on the bench. Pikachu jumped beside me as I painfully stretched my legs out. We should have taken our time getting here, but we didn't. We made it here in just five hours. We ended up rushing to get here, and I was completely sore all over. Everything hurt. My neck, shoulders, back, arms, legs, etc.

_I always have to be in a rush now don't I?_

"Well at least we made it here and in good time. Only about five hours that's pretty good. And the Pokémon center is less than a block away. In fact it's just around that corner if I remember correctly."

I looked towards the corner and frowned. It was pretty crowded outside. There were lots of people going from one shop to another. The weekend appeared to be full swing today.

I then stood up and popped my back with a loud crack. I then proceeded to pop my neck and shoulders while I was at it. Once I was done stretching Pikachu and I walked towards the Pokémon center.

Upon arriving we made our way to the PC only to find it completely blocked off with yellow Caution tape. On the screen of the PC was an Out of Order sign. I looked around at all the other trainers in the Pokémon center and found that I was the only one who appeared shocked by the fact that the PC was completely out of order.

_There is no way that I'm going all the way to Pewter to use the PC. No way. Well… maybe I would get to see Brock and…nah. Anyways I promised my Mom that I would be back by tomorrow. Even if I didn't promise, Pewter is even farther away. I'd have to go all the way through Viridian Forest._

I made my way over to the counter and asked Nurse Joy, "What's wrong with the PC?"

Before Nurse Joy could answer a voice behind me exclaimed, "You mean you don't know?!"

I turned around to see an about seven-year-old girl with blonde hair wearing a matching pink skirt and shirt standing there and looking extremely surprised.

"Know what?" I asked suspiciously.

A boy around my age wearing shorts and a hat on backwards stepped forwards and asked, "Have you been living under a rock? It's been in all the major headlines. How could you not hear about it?"

"Hear about what?"

_What was so important that it made major headlines that I didn't see? What are they talking about anyways, something to do with the PC? What happened to the PC?_

The boy sighed. Before he could even respond the girl piped up, "Someone hacked the whole PC system! Now whenever someone logs into the Pokémon storage system it spreads a virus to the computer causing it to crash before they even get to the menu. No one's been able to get their Pokémon since early yesterday morning. Not even people in the Unova region. The police say that whoever is found responsible will be put in jail forever and ever. In fact my Dad says that the da~" Her dad standing behind her suddenly put his hand over her mouth silencing her.

He smiled at me with all his teeth exposed before saying, "Let's not get too carried away now should we?" He then quickly rushed her out of the Pokémon center.

I ignored the oddity that had just happened. I was still trying to absorb what she said.

_The whole PC system! That means it wouldn't matter where I went. I can't get my Pokémon no matter what PC I go to then. What should I do now? Why did you have to put my Pokémon in the PC yesterday, Oak? Wait… She said it happened yesterday morning. But Oak put them in the PC around noon, shouldn't he have known about the PCs being broken? Well maybe he could have not known about it, maybe he didn't watch the news that day. He did appear to be in a rush that day in fact, no, there is no way he hadn't heard about it. He's a professor, people probably called him as soon as it happened. So why did he put them in the PC if it was going to… wait he would have had to put them in before whoever injected the virus did. He couldn't have put the Pokémon in the PC right before he left! It would have taken too long anyways. That means he was planning to leave before we even got there! No wonder why his so called "research" sounded so fake. What did he leave for then? Did it have to do with why he had been nervous so much lately? Ugh, I don't have any of the answers. Or any Pokémon for that matter either._

Someone shaking me jostled me from my thoughts.

"What?" I asked irritated to be jerked out of my thoughts.

"Nurse Joy wanted to know if you needed anything else," Said the same boy as before.

I shook my head. "I'm fine," I then slowly started making my way out of the Pokémon center. After leaving I said, "I'm going to get a soda. All of this," I shook my hand, "Has left me really thirsty. How about you?" Pikachu agreed. "Well I'm sure they have a water fountain for Pokémon around here and I'm also sure that I'll find a vending machine if I walk around long enough."

…

Sure enough some ten minutes later I reached down and grabbed the soda out of the vending machine. I practically ripped off the cap and took a huge swig of it. I frowned. It was flat.

"This sucks, Pikachu, it truly does. This soda is flat. Today is all bad luck. First not having any Pokéballs, then the PC, and now this."

"Pikachu chu," He said sternly, but in an encouraging way.

"What are you trying to say? That I can still improve my day?"

He nodded then pretended to throw something.

"A pokéball?"

He nodded again and smiled.

"Oh I get it now. You're saying that I can still catch Pokémon on the way back. We'll have to go to the Pokémart then. Well at least we won't waste our time here."

This time Pikachu nodded his head vigorously and said, "Pi."

Finishing the soda I threw it on the ground and crushed it with my foot. I then picked it up and threw it in the trashcan.

We then quickly made our way through the crowd and entered the nice air-conditioned Pokémart. The air-conditioning was a nice change. It wasn't really hot outside, but it was summer so the air-conditioning was quite refreshing compared to the scorching sun.

There were only three people in the mart despite the crowdedness that was outside. I grabbed three pokéballs off the nearby shelf and brought them to the counter. The old man standing behind the counter with his graying hair and wrinkled skin took his time ringing up the pokéballs. I impatiently tapped my foot waiting for him to finish. After what seemed an eternity he handed them back along with a receipt. I shoved the receipt into my pocket and carefully put the pokéballs in my other pocket.

I then once again made my way back outside into the crowd; squinting my eyes waiting for them to adjust to the bright light. Using my hand as a visor Pikachu and I made our way through town making left and rights at random.

Right before I turned left on 4th street something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I glanced over to see what appeared to be Mikey or at least the same color blonde hair, he was swiftly walking about twenty feet ahead of me. The gap between us grew and it became hard to see him, if it was him, through the crowd.

I made a decision. I started down the street trying to catch up. I tried as politely as I could to push through the dense crowd. I wasn't going fast enough however. He kept getting farther and farther away, and harder and harder see.

I then lost sight of him altogether. I put all niceties aside and shoved my way through the crowd to the unease of Pikachu as I heard him squeal and felt his paws dig into my shoulder. As I pushed others out of my way a few cussed me out, but I kept on going without stopping.

Luckily, I caught sight of him again and a couple minutes later the crowd became less dense as I followed him until it disappeared completely. Mikey, Pikachu, and I were the only ones on the street now. Still completely unaware I quickly closed the gap and grabbed his shoulder in an attempt to get his attention.

It got a little too much of his attention because he gasped in fright and dropped his grocery bags on the ground spilling their contents. Bananas, apples, lettuce heads, frozen turkey, celery sticks, and bags of flour skidded on the ground. My eyes met the fearful icy blue eyes of the boy. It was definitely Mikey. Seeing that it was only I he sighed and got down on his knees to pick up the fallen groceries. Pikachu and myself quickly got down to help too.

While picking up the various amounts of food I asked, "Why do you have all this food? You couldn't possibly eat it all."

Picking up a box of crackers he responded, "It's not all for me."

"Then who's it for?"

"My family."

"This is a lot even for a family. This is enough food to feed an army!"

"I have a big family," he chuckled, but then frowned.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He whispered picking up the last fallen item.

Standing back up and brushing off my knees I asked, "Well then, can I follow you back to your house? I wanted to ask you a few things."

"Ummm….uhhhh….ahh…sure. I guess," He stuttered once again making his way down the street.

I followed after him. "When we battled; why did you stop acting as nervous? You became like a completely different person."

Mikey was silent for some time before answering, "I-I don't know, it seems that I can only focus during a battle. Everything else stops being important, kinda sounds stupid doesn't it?"

"No not at all, I know exactly what you mean. Battling often times has a calming effect, or at least if you don't try to think too much about anything else. It's like a kind of meditating."

"Exactly! When I battle I'm not worried of what others will think of me. It's just Emolga, the opponent, and I on the field. Nothing else in the world matters.

"I know that feeling. Right Pikachu?"

"Pika!" he chirped.

"Hey that reminds me. Where's Emolga? Don't you keep her out of her Pokéball like I do Pikachu?"

"I can't have Emolga on me."

"What do you mean 'you can't'?"

"Well you see my uhh trainers license…expired."

"It…expired?"

"Yeah they expire every six months."

"But I've had mine for nine."

"That's probably because Oak renewed it for you."

"Why didn't he renew it for you then?"

"Because I didn't want him to renew it."

"What?!" I stopped and stared at him. "What do you mean you didn't want him to?"

"I have other responsibilities that limited my training career."

"I can't believe you gave up trying to be a Pokémon Master."

"That's the thing. I never wanted to be one."

"Then why did you go on your journey in the first place? And how did you get an Emolga to start with too?"

He sighed. "I guess I might as well tell you. You see I came to Pallet and got a license from Oak, but he had no Pokémon left, you got the last one I guess. So instead of making me wait he sent me on a trip all the way to the Unova region. I would get a starter from Professor Juniper. Well, I was walking through the desert on my way to the lab when I found her egg, in the end I never got an official starter. By the time I got to the lab she had hatched and we became best friends. I just caught her there with a spare pokéball they had at the lab, For six months we travelled and such doing many battles and collecting badges. But my license expired and I had to come home. I released all my Pokémon back into the wild and gave a few to trainers I knew."

"What about Emolga? Wouldn't it be illegal to have a Pokémon without a license?"

"Yes that's why she is not around."

"Where is she then?"

"I have her in a pokéball under my bed." He stopped walking. "Well we're here."

I looked around, but there were no houses of any kind around.

"But there are no houses around. Just this," I squinted at the small printed words on the sign next to him. "Gate's Orpanage."

He didn't say anything.

Suddenly I understood.

_Oh God, he lives at an orphanage. No wonder why he didn't keep at his quest. He was probably chained down to this. He was lucky to get to go at all. And the food! No wonder why he brought so much food. He was shopping for a whole orphanage. I had no clue._

"I'm so so sorry for you I didn't know~"

"Shut up! Shut up! I don't want your sympathy. I thought you'd be my friend, but now you treat me like I'm some freak. Go away." He cut me off yelling.

I stood there silently shocked.

"Get out!"

I pulled out a napkin from lunch and a pencil from my pocket. I quickly scribbled my address on the napkin and tried to give it to him.

"If you are ever in Pallet again~"

He slapped it out of my hand and it fluttered to the ground.

"Get the f*ck away from me."

Knowing there was nothing left I could do I left the orphanage.

_I really messed up there. I shouldn't have treated him like he was someone totally different when I found out. I really must of hurt his feelings. I hope in the future I'll be able to fix this. I don't like how this situation sits. At least I tried. I hope he forgives me in the future._

I slowly walked down the street; hands in pockets; looking at the ground.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu said trying to cheer me up.

"Thanks, Pikachu," I said smiling a bit.

"Pika pikachu," Pikachu waved his hands around then made a face that looked like Brock's.

I laughed. It looked absolutely hilarious on Pikachu. I rubbed Pikachu's head and said, "You're a riot."

Pikachu started laughing too. "Nothing shall escape our wave of funniness!" I said raising my fist into the air.

"Chu!" he said mimicking me.

"We will take the world down in pain with the power of our punch lines." I said giggling.

"Pika pi chu pika pika pikachu," After saying this Pikachu started chuckling gleefully.

"Well now I wish I knew what you said. I bet it was pretty funny."

He nodded still chuckling at his own joke.

…

"My jokes aren't that corny." I said defensively.

"Pi," he said crossing his arms.

"Well you can't make popcorn out of them."

"Pika," he said facepalming.

"Ehhh. Some of the jokes are better than others."

We had been telling jokes nonstop for the past two hours. I had practically run out of good jokes and Pikachu accused me of having only terrible ones left. Not like he could prove that he had any better.

I shook my head.

Suddenly a bush started shaking nearby. I snapped around and had my pokéball out in a flash, but I froze. Something seemed wrong. Horribly wrong. I watched the bush shake. I watched transfixed.

I didn't seem like a bush any more. It was like something out of a nightmare. All I could see were the razor sharp thorns of the bush shaking back and forth. The leaves were tiny hands constantly moving and the flowers were some horrible kind of staring eyes. It slowly quivered seemingly trying to tempt me to come closer so it could swallow me whole.

I felt the pokéball roll out of my sweaty hand. I made no attempt to get it. It didn't seem to matter anymore. There were torrents of cold sweat running down my spine as I stared.

_It's just a bush! Nothing dangerous about it. Just a bush with a ratatta or possibly a pidgey in it._

_Somethings wrong with it. Can't you see? Get away!_

I stared at the bush. It suddenly seemed to drop sixty degrees outside. I shivered all the way down to my feet. I rubbed my goose bumped arms in discomfort, as I breathed out in a shaky heave I saw that I could see my breath. My eyes slowly made their way from my breath back to the bush.

_What's in the bush? What is it?_

_It's just a ratatta. Or a pidgey._

_No. No. It's some kind of monster._

_Monsters aren't real._

_They are. They are real! And they are in that bush!_

I pictured a ratatta in my head.

_Nothing scary about that._

The ratatta in my mind started growing until it was taller than a human. It's fangs grew longer and started dripping blood. And worse of all its eyes started to glow an eerie indigo. I quickly stopped thinking about the ratatta

_I'm being betrayed by my own mind._

_No. It's telling you to get away._

Every instinct in my body screamed at me to run. Run like I was being chased by demons. To run and never stop.

_What the f*ck is wrong with me? There is nothing wrong with that bush._

_Run._

_No. It's just a bush._

_RUN. RUN! It's going to kill you! It's going to slaughter you. It's going to rip out your organs and eat them!_

_But, but-_

_**RUN! F*CKING RUN! IT WANT'S YOUR FLESH! IT WANTS IT! RUN! RUN! RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!**_

I ran.

…


End file.
